Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Southampton Remedi Hand Beats Hollywood

The Southampton Remedi-Hand is a a myoelectrically driven device (control signals are derived from a flexor tensor muscle pair) with independently driven fingers and a two axis thumb allowing the hand 6 degrees of freedom. The palm of the hand and fingers are made of a light weight epoxy carbon fiber making the total assembly weight less than 500g - even lighter than a real hand.


(Southampton Remedi-Hand)

Dr Paul Chappell, a medical physicist from the University of Southampton in the UK, designed the prototype hand, which uses 6 sets of motors and gears so that each of the five fingers can move independently. This additional flexibility of movement provides a more complete emulation of human hand movement than other prosthetic devices. Dr Chappell remarks:

"With this hand you can clutch objects such as a ball, you can move the thumb out to one side and grip objects with the index finger in the way you do when opening a lock with a key, and you can wrap your fingers around an object in what we call the power grip – like the one you use when you hold a hammer or a microphone."

The Southampton Remedi-Hand also features a remarkably advanced feedback control system. Most prosthetic hands lack any intelligent feedback control system, requiring the user to rely on visual feedback to detect whether an object is slipping out of the hand or if an unnecessarily large force is being applied. The Remedi-Hand uses screen printed thick film piezoresistive resistors and piezoelectric dynamic sensors to provide a cheap and compact solution for detecting grip force and slip of an object from a prosthesis.


(Southampton Remedi-Hand Fingertip Control)

The Southampton Remedi-Hand uses a new type of fingertip that allows direct screen printing of thick-film sensors onto the surface. The fingertip has an array of thick-film sensors deposited on it to both measure the grip force exerted by the independently driven fingers and also to detect the onset of slippage of an object held in the hand. Two types of sensors used: piezoresistive thick-film sensors arranged to detect the force on the finger and piezoelectric thick-film sensors to detect the onset of slip.

Dr Chappell stated that "the aim is to create a hand with the sort of functionality a human hand has but also a sense of touch. This will let the hand know how tightly to grip an object like a coffee cup without dropping it, but not so tightly that it's crushed. It'll also have an integrated slip-sensor which will tell the hand if something is beginning to slip out of its grip so it can grip slightly harder. It'll be quite a clever system."


(Terminator Endoskeleton Hand and Arm)

Science fiction fans have been looking at very shiny robotic hands for a generation now, starting with the prosthetic device given to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars and the endoskeleton arm provided to Governor Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies. If all goes well, the Southampton Remedi-Hand will be better than even Hollywood imagined.

Read more at the press release.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/8/2005)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 6 )

Related News Stories - (" Medical ")

Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'

Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.' - Philip K. Dick, 1960.

'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.' - Alfred Bester, 1956.

Who Needs Asimov's 'Proteus' When You Can Have Pangolins?
'The Proteus was still falling, still shrinking...' - Isaac Asimov, 1966.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'

Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'

Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'

Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'

'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'

NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?

Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'

Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'

Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'

Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'

San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'

Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'

Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'

Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'

EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'

Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.